Congressman Andy Barr made a stop in Columbia on Wednesday, Oct. 8th to meet with citizens and discuss his current campaign. Barr announced in April that he would be seeking the U.S. Senate seat that is currently held by Mitch McConnell, who is retiring.
Barr has represented the 6th district of Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives for the past 13 years.
“I was born and raised in the era of Ronald Reagan, so I am a Reagan conservative. The means I believe in limited government, free enterprise, strong national defense. I am pro-life, I have a 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association. I am the grandson of two World War II veterans, and I back the blue,” he said.
Barr said President Donald Trump asked him to chair his campaign in Kentucky prior to the 2024 election.
“He didn’t have a super relationship with our two senators and, of course, we had a democratic governor, and he remembered campaigning with me when we defeated Amy McGrath,” said Barr.
Barr said since Trump took office that “we have secured the border, we have obliterated Iran’s nuclear program, we passed the largest tax cuts in American history.” He credited Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and tax cuts for the Corning and Apple announcement that iPhone glass will be made in Mercer County.
“As important as it is for us to have a proven fighter who supports this president who is a conservative, who has a track record of delivering results, as important as that is, it’s also important to nominate as Republicans, I assume most of you are Republicans, it’s important for us to nominate a Republican who will win. I am proven, I am battle tested. I have flipped a seat from Democrat to Republican. I represent the Big Blue Nation and that’s not just the University of Kentucky wildcats, it’s Lexington, which is a very liberal place.”
Barr said Kentucky is good at manufacturing and energy.
“We need a ton of power in our country to compete with China. We are in a generational struggle and challenge and competition with the People’s Republic of China. They are racing ahead in the race for AI. We have to produce more power. Kentucky can do it. We can be the national leaders and in your industrial park, if you want it, we can bring in the AI data centers and we can power it,” he said.
“We can produce a ton of jobs, and we can put our coal miners back to work,” said Barr. “Don’t believe all this nonsense on TV. When you see all these attack ads against me, they are attacking me because I am winning.”
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
